Child Of Hope
by autumnrose2010
Summary: Juliet Parrish carries a secret inside her body...Mike Donovan's baby.
1. The Argument

"Don't make me choose between you and my son. Because you'll lose. Every time."

Juliet Parrish walked away with Mike Donovan's words ringing in her ears. She knew that the man was in denial, that he'd eventually be forced to face the truth about Sean, and it hurt her to realize the pain that that knowledge would cause him. The image of the ten-year-old boy floating in suspended animation, neither alive nor dead, waiting to be taken to the fourth planet around the star Sirius to be consumed by walking, talking lizards, made Juliet feel nauseous.

In fact, a lot of things made Juliet feel nauseous these days, especially the smell of raw meat. With a start, she realized that, in addition, she hadn't had a period since the time she and Mike...

But of course. They hadn't used protection, as the act had been too spontaneous and, caught up in the moment, neither of them had even thought of it.

Oh dear God. How on earth would she tell him? He was angry at her right now for what she'd told him about Sean. When he realized the truth of her words, he'd surely come around, wouldn't he? What would she do if he didn't?

She knew that this was probably the worst possible time in recorded history to be bringing a new life into the world. Perhaps she should just have an abortion and put the whole thing behind her. Robin Maxwell crossed her mind. The girl had refused an abortion in the beginning, and by the time she'd finally decided that she wanted one, it had been too late. The hybrid twins inside her had secured themselves to her vital organs so that it would have been impossible to remove them without killing her.

Yet, if the abortion had been successful, Elizabeth, the Star-child, wouldn't be here. What might a child of hers and Mike's turn out to be?

No. She couldn't think about that right now. Right now she had to concentrate of the survival of the Resistance.

Yet wouldn't her own dedication to the cause soon be compromised by her own biological progression? Perhaps she should consider stepping down as their leader, or at least giving half the responsibility to Ham Tyler.

Exhausted and beset by a million worries, Juliet knew that she'd probably find sleep impossible tonight.


	2. Victory

_A/N: In this chapter I tried to combine the way the movie ended and the way the book by A. Crispin ended, as the two endings were slightly different._

Despite her expectations, Juliet fell into a sound sleep in which she dreamed that she was being held in Mike's arms. She awakened the following morning to find herself lying alone in bed, and instantly she remembered what she had to do.

The test came back positive, just as she'd known it would. Well, at least now she knew for sure, although the hoping and dreading was, of course, far from over. In fact, it had just begun.

She didn't see Mike again until the Resistance met with the Fifth Column to form a plan of attack. She watched as he introduced Martin to Robert, Robin, and the others, pointedly ignoring her. She tried her best not to look at him, illogically fearing that if he looked into her eyes, he'd somehow guess her secret.

Over the next few days, Juliet was very busy inoculating all the Fifth Columnists against the deadly red dust. She didn't see Mike at all during that time, but he was constantly on her mind.

One night she was walking outside when she spotted him standing along the shore. In the stillness of the dark, everything was peaceful and quiet, and the only sound was that of the wet sand making sucking noises against her shoes.

"Thinking about tomorrow?" she asked as she approached him.

"Thinking about Sean," he told her.

"You can't know how rotten I feel to have had to be the one to tell you about him."

"I don't blame you," he said softly. "I'm sorry for what I said to you," he added a moment later.

"Thank you," she replied. "And you shouldn't blame Sean, either. He's just a little boy. He couldn't fight back like I did."

"I _don't _blame him, Julie. I blame them."

Everything was all right between them again. Craving the comfort of his arms, she reached for him, and he held her tightly in a caring embrace. _Tell him now, _a part of her urged. _He needs to know. He deserves to know._

_Just wait until after tomorrow, _another side of her insisted. _Just one more day. He has enough on his mind as it is. We all do. There will be plenty of time to tell him after this is all over. _

The following morning, the sky was filled with balloons carrying the red dust toxin to all corners of the earth as Mike, Juliet, and the others stole aboard the mother-ship, planning to disperse the toxin inside it. Diana rallied her troops, and a battle followed, in which there were casualties on both sides. In the end, Mike, Julie, and their companions found themselves trapped in a tunnel on a ship that was above earth's atmosphere. To make matters worse, Lorraine discovered that Diana had programmed the ship to self-destruct.

First Lorraine, then Mike, struggled to reverse the computer program, but neither of them were able to. "Five seconds to critical mass...three seconds to critical mass..."

Sure that she was about to die, Juliet glanced helplessly at Mike, knowing that he would die without ever having known that they could have had a child together. She'd waited until she thought it was the right time to tell him, but that time had never come. Filled with remorse, she wondered what their child would have looked like. Would it have been a boy or a girl? Would it have been tall like Mike, or had her blonde hair? The despair she now felt was only intensified by all the 'what-ifs' drifting about in her mind.

"For what it's worth in the last few seconds of our lives, I love you," Mike told her, jolting her out of her reverie.

"It's worth a lot to me," she replied. "I love you, too."

"We have achieved critical mass," the computer announced. "Thirty seconds to detonation."

Suddenly Elizabeth, the Star-child, grabbed the controls. Everyone stared in disbelief as her body began to shimmer and glow, seeming to become part of the computer itself, and then abruptly the countdown to detonation stopped. Whatever the little girl had done had reversed the self-destruct program, saving the lives of all those aboard.

With a shout of joy, Lorraine hugged the child, and Mike and Juliet also embraced.

_"Pretonama," _said Elizabeth.

"What does that mean?" asked Mike.

"It means 'peace'," Lorraine told him, her voice shaking with relief.

"Take us home," Mike told Martin, who began to steer the huge ship back toward earth's orbit. Then he turned back to Juliet, and the two shared a long, passionate kiss.

"Marry me," Mike whispered.


End file.
